Weather the Storm
by N-chan9979
Summary: Shibata and Natsume just wanted to hang out, but when a storm hits and a youkai keeps peeking out of alleyways, Natsume decides it might be better to split up with his friend. Shibata disagrees and decides to follow after. *Can be read with no romantic intentions between characters. *Posted to Ao3 and Wattpad


It was raining as Natsume and Shibata stepped out of the small cafe. The two had decided to meet up, or rather Shibata had insisted that Natsume come into town to see a new horror movie that had come out. Though he most likely could have invited one of his friends from school, Natsume was glad he hadn't, it had been nearly four months since he had last seen his friend.

"Well this is just great, I didn't think to bring an umbrella." The two were under the awning above the door as they considered the weather.

Natsume tore his gaze from a figure peeking out of an alleyway, instead focusing on his friend. "The forecast said it was supposed to be clear all day." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the shadow shift, and Natsume clenched the strap of his bag just a bit tighter.

Shibata gazed up and down the street thoughtfully. "I think I remember there being a small shop on this street. It should be just off that way." He pointed to the left, though the look on Shibata's face didn't instill a lot of confidence in Natsume. "If we run we shouldn't get too wet."

"Yeah, let's hurry." Rather than complain about the potential outcome of there being no store, Natsume hurriedly agreed. The youkai in the alley was leaning farther out of the alley a centimeter at a time. Though it hadn't said anything to Natsume yet, he was a bit jumpy at the idea of it launching out unexpectedly and attacking him. The horror movie, still fresh in his mind from earlier, did nothing to help calm his nerves.

The two dashed off into the weather. The rain wasn't strong enough to soak them through immediately, but they were still significantly wet when they ducked under the small cover the storefront provided. Shibata shot Natsume a grin. He brushed off any lingering water that wasn't set into the fabric of his clothes and started toward the store entrance.

Natsume glanced around them, checking the area to see if the youkai from earlier had followed them. A small sound of surprise escaped him as he saw the youkai now standing in the middle of the street. The figure, clear now that it wasn't hidden in the shadows of an alley, was that of a woman. The hair was disheveled, only allowing a brief glimpse of what appeared to be a completely blank white expanse. Beyond that, the only other thing of note was the size, the youkai was nearly three and a half meters tall.

Shibata had paused, his hand on the handle to the store. "Natsume, what's wrong?"

Turning enough to face his friend, but not enough to lose sight of the figure, Natsume flashed an empty smile. "It's nothing Shibata, I just remembered that Touko wanted me home early." He shifted the bag ever so slightly on his shoulder, as if letting go of the strap would result in the immediate loss of the bag. "I'll talk to you later."

Before he could make any protest, Natsume had blown past him in the beginnings of a sprint. Though Shibata hadn't been privy to the fact that Natsume could see youkai for very long, he knew immediately that was the reason Natsume was suddenly acting jumpy. When an orange and black pig-cat appeared from an alley down the street by the cafe and ran into the side street Natsume had run down, that was all the prodding that he needed to take off into the rain after his friend.

Shibata reached the intersection just in time to see Nyanko-sensei's tail turning once again down another street. Chasing the glimpse of the tail wasn't easy, the rain seeming to increase its efforts to drench everything. Eventually, when he turned a corner he could no longer see Nyanko-sensei. Where had he gone? Shibata cast his gaze around as he jogged down the street, almost desperate for a glimpse of Natsume's cat.

What he got instead was crying. It was to his left and a bit further down the street than he had already gone, but that hardly registered as he took off to the sound. Shibata drew even with the sound, and through the mist of rain he saw Natsume. As suspected, he was crying. The sight of Natsume curled in a ball near the wall of the alley both calmed his fears and sent him closer to a panic, the feelings only a breath apart.

The next thing Shibata noticed as he got closer to his friend was that the rain seemed to bend around them at this point, some invisible shield acting as their umbrella. Natsume had explained that his cat was his 'bodyguard' and could only assume it was the invisible being's doing, since the fat calico was nowhere in sight.

"Hey, Natsume?" Shibata took another step toward him as he called out, but when the blond curled in on himself it caused pause to his actions.

A tense second passed before he decided to take another step forward. The previous reaction to his voice kept him quiet as he did this, until he was barely three steps away. "Natsume, are you okay?"

He looked up from his ball, barely, but enough so that Shibata could see his marble eyes. They reflected no emotion. Natsume's eyes were only visible a moment before they were once again hidden by his knees. Shibata noted that now, instead of clutching his bag, Natsume seemed to hold on to one of his arms as if to keep him grounded.

"Did you hurt your arm? Would it be okay for me to see?" Natsume didn't look up, but a few moments later he shifted. His arm was held out toward Shibata as if the boy were ashamed that his friend had even asked.

For his part, Shibata was simply worried. Seeing his arm didn't help to assuage that any either. Aside from the pale marks of Natsume gripping his arm too tightly, there was a splotchy red color. As Shibata pressed his fingers lightly to the arm, Natsume flinched, but didn't protest. There was a slight indent in the arm that shouldn't have been there, and that was all it took for Shibata to decide the appendage was most likely broken.

When he said as much to Natsume, it didn't seem like he reacted much at all. Shibata looked up to the invisible figure shielding them from the rain. "Did you run into a youkai?" The answer was obvious, but Shibata asked anyway, trying to coerce an answer from his friend.

Natsume peeked up at him once more, but instead of any emotions that Shibata might have expected, he saw fear in his friend's eyes. Taken aback by the sight, he released his gentle hold on Natsume's arm, which wound up clutched against his chest once more. His eyes once again disappeared from sight.

At this point, Shibata had no clue how to approach his friend. As the rain continued to fall around them, he couldn't help but reflect on his fuzzy memories of when Natsume was at his school. Natsume was quiet even before the bullying had started, as if being quiet would delay the inevitable he knew was coming.

As well as his bullying, which Shibata fully regretted now, he vaguely recalled Natsume's guardians at the time. They didn't seem too interested in raising him, never showing up for the class activities the school held or picking him up from school. Now that he was older, Shibata remembered that Natsume never had a lunch at school either.

The realization seemed to strike him then, that while the guardians for Natsume while he was at his primary school were neglectful, they could have been a lot worse. Had Natsume seen worse? While the question seemed somehow ludicrous, Shibata had the suspicion the answer was yes. Was some shadow of memory now hanging over Natsume's head? Perhaps some situation so similar to circumstances now that it had his friend confused?

Shibata couldn't help the image of Natsume, much younger than he was now, sitting in this same position. Would anyone have been looking for him at the time? How young had he been, when he sat curled against a wall nursing an injured arm? Had it happened more than once? Without putting conscious thought into the motion, Shibata was extending a hand to put on Natsume's shoulder.

When his hand made contact with the shoulder, Natsume flinched. It wasn't from fear this time. After a few moments of simply having his hand on Natsume's shoulder, their eyes eventually met. Beyond the fear, Shibata could see some faint spark of the Natsume he knew lurking.

"Does anything else hurt?" Their gazes held, until Natsume managed a small shake of his head. Shibata sighed in relief and forced a smile onto his face. "That's good," he held out his free hand as an offer, "we should go to the doctor for your arm though."

The small frown on Shibata's face after Natsume shook his head once more had him curling up into a ball again. Realizing the mistake he had made, Shibata wanted to kick himself. "Okay then, we can wait to go to the doctor for a little bit." His crouch became uncomfortable, so Shibata shifted to sit against the wall next to Natsume.

As they continued to sit there, Shibata noticed Natsume shaking ever so slightly. He couldn't tell if it was from the cold or because he was crying. It didn't matter. His arm found its way across Natsume's shoulders, and though he stiffened a bit at first, Natsume eventually relaxed into the grip.

It could have been ten minutes or it could have been an hour, but when Shibata felt Natsume shift it seemed like it had only been a few moments. Shibata met Natsume's gaze as he turned his head to the side. The light was back in Natsume's eyes. He couldn't be happier. The smile he held on his face as he looked back at Natsume didn't need to be forced this time.

"You okay?"

"I think I broke my arm." The pained smile that found its way onto Natsume's face let Shibata know that his friend would be fine.

"We should go to the doctor then."

"Yeah." Natsume shifted his gaze upward and a small smirk found its way onto his face. "You look like a drowned cat."

There was a breath of hot air, the kind you felt when a large animal breathed out. Small puffs of smoke were chased away by the drizzling rain, and Natsume's cat appeared. "That's your fault, brat."

Shibata was the first to stand, and he held out a hand for Natsume to take. When Natsume took it this time, Shibata didn't say anything. Neither of them mentioned any reason why Natsume was so scared, and neither of them needed to. As they walked away, Natsume cracked a joke about not knowing Shibata's hair was that long, and that's all Shibata needed to needle him about how he wouldn't have to deal with the smell of a wet animal when he got home. Nothing had changed between them, and nothing needed to.


End file.
